Moving beyond Paralyzing Fear

November 16th, 2008

Matthew 25:14-20
Presented November 16, 2008, by J.D. Kline
The 27th Sunday after Pentecost

Each of us, I suspect, has a list of scripture texts we find disturbing—passages that somehow seem out of place, seemingly inconsistent with the primary themes and character of scripture. One of those troubling texts is found near the end of this morning’s Gospel lesson, a text which reads, “To all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away” (Matthew 25:29). Allowed to stand alone, the text seems to provide blessing for the worst abuses of the capitalist system—a heartless grasping after ever-increasing possessions, and justification for the ever-spiraling gap between the rich and the poor. What is the intent of this passage of Scripture, and why would it be included by those who had heard Jesus speak so convincingly of the call to live simply and to share generously?

The verse is found near the end of a section commonly labeled the parable of the talents, a story of a landowner who entrusts his property to three of his slaves. In his commentary Matthew for Everyone biblical scholar Tom Wright reminds us that such a story of a master who, after entrusting tasks to his slaves, comes back at last, “would certainly be understood, in the Judaism of Jesus’ day, as a story about God and Israel.” And if that is true, Jesus speaks the story as words of challenge to the people of his day, and our question becomes, What is the nature of that challenge?

Matthew’s Gospel, you may recall, includes five major blocks of Jesus’ teachings, and this parable falls near the end of the fifth section—a section that begins, in chapter 23, with Jesus lambasting the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus is criticizing those religious leaders of the day because they seemingly have lost their way, placing far more focus upon matters of outward appearances than upon the heart of the law, which is justice and compassion and right living. In the parable of the talents, Jesus is asserting that the scribes and Pharisees are like the third servant who has been given a wonderful gift but chooses to bury that gift in the ground. Indeed, the scribes and Pharisees serve as representatives of the entire people of Israel, who have, Jesus asserts, become content with holding God’s love—God’s precious gift—to themselves, rather than embracing their calling to live as light to all the nations.

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Faithful over the Long Haul

November 9th, 2008

Amos 5:18-24; Matthew 25:1-13
Presented November 9, 2008, by J.D. Kline
The 26th Sunday after Pentecost

No matter what your political persuasion, few would argue that something remarkable happened this week, with the election of Barack Obama as our first African-American president. When Obama was born in 1961, racial segregation was the norm in this nation, with many states mandating patterns of segregation by law. Bi-racial marriages, such as that of Obama’s own parents, were forbidden in a large number of our states. And in the South, few African-Americans had the freedom to vote; indeed, those who sought the vote often risked their lives. Is it any wonder that television images of Tuesday night’s election celebrations included picture after picture of persons with tears steaming down their cheeks? Tears of joy, tears of wonder, tears of remembrance of a painful past and tears of celebration for just how far we have come. For many—whether black or white, young or old—it was a defining moment in life, a moment difficult to fully take in. Those of us who came of age in the 1960s, in the turbulent days of the civil rights and anti-Vietnam movements, found ourselves recalling once again the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., particularly those spoken on the eve of his death, in a final sermon entitled “I Have Seen the Promised Land.” Can you not hear those eerily accurate words he preached that evening?

I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And God’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we as a people will get to the promised land.

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What Belongs to God? Embracing an Alternative Story

October 19th, 2008

Matthew 22:15-22
Presented October 19, 2008, by J.D. Kline
The 23rd Sunday after Pentecost

Stewardship Theme: Celebrating Abundance—Embrace Relationships

Maxie Dunnam, former editor of The Upper Room, some years ago wrote a book entitled Barefoot Days of the Soul in which he likens life in Christ to that memory of early spring days from his childhood when one’s shoes could be kicked off—that exhilarating moment when new life is only just beginning to burst forth, that fresh and freeing moment of spring warmth when all life seems new. It’s a marvelous image, one which contrasts markedly to the dour ways in which faith all too often is portrayed—as little more than a series of rules and regulations, a rigid list of do’s and don’ts, with heavy emphasis upon the don’ts. You know the dour folks I’m thinking of, don’t you? The ones heavy on judgment, far more concerned with right dogma than with right living. The ones eager to debate over minute matters of doctrinal belief, yet giving little regard to the quality of their relationships with God and with one another.

This morning’s Gospel lesson from Matthew, chapter 22, speaks of a time when Jesus finds himself embroiled in conflict with the Pharisees, those religious leaders of his day who invested great amounts of energy into defining the letter of the law, while neglecting the weightier matters of justice, compassion, peaceful living, and loving relationships. Those leaders saw their primary task as centering upon the guarding and the preserving of the law, but tragically, the faith they demonstrated all too often appeared dull and lifeless. It was anything but barefoot days of the soul. Much to the contrary, the Pharisees were unwilling to take the risk of living compassionately; theirs was a faith that had little to do with the imagining and envisioning of an unfolding life of wholeness and well-being and peace. The ancient Pharisees would have little grasped what Francis of Assisi had in mind when asserting, “It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.”

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Holding Fast to What Is Good: Embracing Healthy Relationships

October 5th, 2008

Matthew 21:33-46
Presented October 5, 2008, by J.D. Kline
The 21st Sunday after Pentecost

Stewardship Theme: Celebrate Abundance—Embrace Relationships

Do you remember the film, Dead Man Walking, from a number of years ago, the story of a convicted killer on death row and his relationship with a Catholic sister, Helen Prejean, who serves as his spiritual director? There is a scene near the conclusion of the movie, set on the final evening before the scheduled execution and after learning that all appeals for clemency have been denied, in which the man and his spiritual director talk honestly about the horrific crime committed, its impact upon the victims’ family, and the readiness of the convicted killer to face death. In the midst of that conversation, the sister speaks words of faith and promise. Says Sister Helen Prejean to the death row inmate, “You are a son of God.” There is a poignant pause, a moment of shocked silence, and the man facing death confesses, “No one’s ever said that to me before. Plenty of times I’ve been called a son of something else, but never a son of God.”

How tragic it is when persons spend their entire lives without hearing, let alone even beginning to grasp this fundamental truth, that each one of us is a child of God. Is it any wonder that many find themselves living in a sea of unhealthy relationships?

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When Words Are Not Enough: Embracing the Challenge of Kingdom Living

September 28th, 2008

Matthew 21:28-32; Philippians 2:1-13
Presented September 28, 2008, by J.D. Kline
The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

2008 Stewardship Theme: Celebrate Abundance—Embrace Relationships

Abraham Heschel, rabbi and leading Jewish theologian of the 20th century, once wrote of the distinction between our usual patterns of speech and those of the experience of prayer. “The purpose of speech,” asserted Heschel, “is to inform,” while “the purpose of prayer is to partake.” It’s a helpful distinction—this recognition that the language of faith and prayer takes us well beyond the amassing of information and knowledge, inviting us instead to enter wholeheartedly into a new reality, a new perspective, a new way of perceiving life. The language of faith and prayer is relational, prodding us to partake more deeply of life with God at the center. For those of us who embrace the Christian tradition, it is a matter of entering unreservedly into the story of Jesus, drinking deeply of a new intimacy in relationship with the God who has chosen to be fully immersed in human life in the person of Jesus the Christ. It is a matter of learning to live in Christ, entering into a give-and-take relationship with the One who loves us with a love that will not let us go, the One who invites us to partake of life through the eyes and heart of faith, the One who challenges us to embrace kingdom values. Values that turn our living upside down and inside out. Values that guide us along a journey of compassion and peace, trust and hope, self-giving love and servanthood.

Howard Thurman, first African-American dean of the chapel at Boston University, tells the story of his grandmother, an ex-slave and deeply devout woman who never learned to read. Yet Thurman’s grandmother, while having little book learning, displayed a remarkable “soul” learning, allowing the central message of the Gospel to infuse her very being—permitting this incredible story of God’s love to refresh and renew all her living. Howard Thurman remembers his grandmother asking him to read for her from the Scriptures. She would frequently ask for readings from the Psalms, that ancient prayer book of the Hebrew people, from the prophet Isaiah with its glorious vision of God’s new creation, and from the Gospels, so filled with parables and stories of Jesus. But seldom did Thurman’s grandmother seek readings from the letters of the apostle Paul, unless it was the magnificent love chapter in 1 Corinthians 13: “love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.”

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